Creditors Force Partners Into Bankruptcy

Hartford Square Partners Are Forced Into Bankruptcy

October 26, 1991|By DAN HAAR; Courant Staff Writer

The partnership that owns the distinctive Hartford Square North office building has been forced into bankruptcy court by creditors, led by Chase Manhattan Bank. The creditors say they are owed more than $40 million.

The 11-story, shiny metal building in Hartford's Charter Oak neighborhood is known for its windows flanked by bright red stripes and shaped like candy canes.

Its owners -- a partnership of Century Development Corp. and Hartford Square General Inc. -- have failed to pay debts to more than 50 companies even though the building is about 90 percent leased, Chase Manhattan and other companies say.

The partners have not yet responded to a petition for bankruptcy filed last week by Chase Manhattan and three other companies.

In April, Chase Manhattan filed to foreclose on the 270,000-square-foot building. A judge appointed a receiver to collect rent money and operate the building.

The Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, if accepted by the court, would forestall the foreclosure.

Neither Mark D. Breen, president of Century Development, nor Thomas K. Standish, president of Hartford Square General, could be reached for comment Friday. John Beck, a lawyer for Breen, said he was aware of the bankruptcy filing, but had no comment. He said Breen had not yet been served with the petition.

Breen said in June that the partnership was unable to pay its loans because Chase Manhattan did not fulfill a commitment for more financing.

"I don't perceive any successful possibility of attacking the petition," said James A. Fulton, a Greenwich lawyer for Chase Manhattan.

The bankruptcy petition applies only to the partnership that was set up to own and operate the building, not to other property owned by the partners, Fulton said.

Fulton would not say why Chase Manhattan petitioned to force Hartford Square North Limited Partnership into bankruptcy. But Jeffrey S. Tager of Bloomfield, a lawyer for another creditor

involved in the petition, said he had heard the foreclosure has been "bogged down."

Standish developed the building, then later brought Breen in as a partner before the building was completed in 1987. The partnership owes the City of Hartford $1.3 million in property taxes dating back to 1989.